My 3 month old has terrible eczema on his cheeks. The red, irritated skin disappears with over the counter hydrocortisone but I'm reluctant to use it daily (which is what he seems to need to control it) - anyone have experience using hydrocortisone regularly on infants? Thanks!

As a homeopath, typically what we see is asthma from suppressed eczema in the early years. Rashes on the skin are better than disturbances in the major organs so if you can, soothe the rash with calendula or some type of natural salve made with calendula and maybe coconut oil or olive oil. Do not suppress it with steroid creams. Believe it or not, the rash is actually the sign of a healthy immune system...baby's body is pushing the disturbance out to the surface away from the major organs!! It's also a symptom if it persists. It means his body might need a little extra support to really clear the disturbance in his vital force.

Do you have a homeopath near you? I recommend bringing baby to a homeopath.

I'm not a doctor and definitely not a homeopath.. but I had a baby with terrible, cracking, bleeding eczema on his face only. It was worst when he was teething and drooling, and in the winter. Steroid cream, over the counter, did little. His dr. gave me extra strong steroid cream , which would set it back some, and other moisturizers (neutrogena et al) to put on it once the cracking and bleeding had subsided.

Once he was close to 2 years old I gave him one dose of baby loratadine to see if it would help. The eczema went away AND NEVER CAME BACK.

One thing to be aware of when it's bleeding, cracking, and peeling off is that there is always a risk of a secondary skin infection in those cases. So do keep a close eye on it. Never happened to us, but can happen.

Thank you for the info. It was under control with the hydrocortisone but then came back very quickly when we stopped, so I'm thinking it's something going on with his immune system and not just dry skin. I'll look into homeopaths in my area too. I'm wondering if it could be caused by something I'm eating getting into breast milk and causing this reaction. I'm going to try to eliminate nuts and dairy for awhile to see if there is any improvement.. thanks again for the advice!

Thank you for the tip on the loratadine! Hopefully we'll be able to settle this down sooner than 2, but I'll keep that in mind if necessary. And I'm definitely being careful to avoid skin infections - thanks for the advice!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrs_mandolini

I'm not a doctor and definitely not a homeopath.. but I had a baby with terrible, cracking, bleeding eczema on his face only. It was worst when he was teething and drooling, and in the winter. Steroid cream, over the counter, did little. His dr. gave me extra strong steroid cream , which would set it back some, and other moisturizers (neutrogena et al) to put on it once the cracking and bleeding had subsided.
Once he was close to 2 years old I gave him one dose of baby loratadine to see if it would help. The eczema went away AND NEVER CAME BACK.
One thing to be aware of when it's bleeding, cracking, and peeling off is that there is always a risk of a secondary skin infection in those cases. So do keep a close eye on it. Never happened to us, but can happen.

Eczema can also be a sign of a food allergy. My 5-year-old had terrible eczema as an infant, beginning at about 4-6 weeks. My pediatrician was really dismissive of the idea that it could be allergy-related, so we were sent to a dermatologist, who prescribed steroid cream. Our experience was like yours: when we used the cream, the rash was suppressed, but when we missed a dose, it came right back. We quickly decided to discontinue use of the cream.

Long story short, she had a piece of a cashew when she was 16 months old and had a big reaction which led us to the hospital and, eventually, an allergist. We learned that she was allergic to tree nuts (cashews and pistachios, specifically). We asked the allergist about her eczema (she was 2 when we did all the testing, and still had bad eczema), and he told us egg and dairy were the two biggest "culprits" with that sort of reaction. She tested positive for both, but the dairy allergy was so mild that it was negligible, so we focused on just eliminating all egg from her diet. Within 2 weeks of cutting out egg, her eczema was totally gone, and never came back.

Does she exhibit any other possible allergy symptoms? My daughter was never fussy or "gassy," as I often hear people say when speculating about food allergies/intolerances. She did have blood and mucous in her stools occasionally, though, and when she was old enough for solids, she had a clear contact allergy to dairy (if yogurt, cheese, et cetera touched her skin, it left a rash). She also had pretty awful diaper rashes a little later on that I now know were related to her allergies.

Anyway, that's one thing I would look into. I wish we'd caught our daughter's allergies sooner. As it was, my pediatrician strongly discouraged me from adjusting my diet at all (she was really sure it wasn't allergy-related at all), so I didn't. In retrospect, I think the signs were pretty clear that she had some allergies.

My baby was very fussy and colicky even before the eczema. I tried eliminating dairy because of the eczema. For us it didn't make a bit of difference, but I do realize that it can make a big difference for some!

For colic the current advice now is to give probiotics, the only elimination diet for breastfeeding moms that helped at all for some was to eliminate ALL of the top 5 allergens (soy, wheat, dairy, nuts, and probably eggs) and while I admire those with the fortitude to do this, I didn't have the weight to spare to go eliminating all of those food groups.

Thanks again ladies - my pediatrician was very dismissive of the idea that it could be related to a food allergy since he's not fussy or upset after feeding, but I'm going to start by eliminating nuts and dairy for a few weeks to see if that's helpful just in case. I can't do all the groups at once!

Quick other question - when you're eliminating egg, I'm assuming you need to eliminate anything containing egg product, right? That is going to be difficult...

My lil guy was not fussy or gassy, but had the eczema flareups and telltale red ring around his anus. Ped was also dismissive of allergies, and I took him straight to my allergist finally at 5 months. He is sensitive to dairy, nuts, bananas, sweet potatoes, egg, and has massive GI issues from rice cereal. I use hydrocortisone 2.5%, wait 5 minutes, then apply petroleum jelly (or un-petoleum jelly). Also, we do weekly Vaseline baths where I wash him (no soap products), and then slather him with Vaseline and put him back in the tub for about 5 minutes. This does wonders for the dry cracking skin during eczema flareups. Lots of luck!

It should take about 2 weeks to clear out of your system, and then another two weeks to completely clear out of his... but you should start to see an improvement by 2 weeks. My daughter had severe eczema as a baby and it's improved as she's grown. The doctor said it's not exactly food allergies, but there are things that can aggravate the eczema... the things he mentioned to pay attention to were red food dye, and citrus. DD has hydracortizone, but she prefers not to use it... as long as the rash isn't bugging her, we leave it alone. Putting Aveeno on the area that rashes up a few times a day can help minimize the rash, but you kind of have to get on top of it with the hydracortizone first, because regular creams tend to sting if the rash is angry.

There is a momma and babe in my DDC both with bad eczema and she swears by this stuff. Said it completely disappeared after taking it. Said her baby's but is kissably soft for the first time in several months. It's called Green Pasture blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil. Worth a shot.

Also - putting a humidifier in the bedroom can help. dd2 had eczema (crusty, scaly, bright red). Keys "Tortuga" lotion www.keys-soap.com applied 3-4 times daily (preceded by wipe with warm washcloth) cleared it up. I also did a dairy elimination diet which helped ....and then when I reintroduced it a month later, no eczema! So I don't know if it was allergy related or not. Also, dd's carseat cover/liner was given to us and smelled like some mainstream laundry detergent. As soon as i ran it through few hot was cycles to clear the detergent residues, the last of her crusty ear patches cleared right up!